Ferguson stars as Raiders demolish the Knights

The way they started the game, nobody would have foreseen the final result – but thanks to a masterclass performance by centre Blake Ferguson, the Raiders romped home to victory, taking the game out 44-14 in Canberra.

Scoring three tries and setting two up, Ferguson was everywhere and popping up all the time, proving too much to handle for the Knights.

With Ferguson hitting his straps at the right time and an open spot in the NSW back-line, the young centre would no doubt be keenly watched by NSW selectors.

It would then come as no surprise that after the game, Raiders coach David Furner had nothing but praise for Ferguson.

“He’s a player who can handle Origin, his preparation is the key so if he keeps playing like that there’s no doubt his name’s going to be tossed up,” Furner said.

“You only have to look at last week and this week, he’s got plenty of ability.”

Also producing a solid performance was winger Sandor Earl, who had his tries set up by who else? Blake Ferguson.

“I can’t say enough about our right edge, we’ve got a few things to fix up in defence but our attack’s good,” Ferguson said.

Equally impressive in his return game off the bench was Raiders captain David Shillington, who amassed an incredible 148m in total – but despite the big win, Ferguson was disappointed that his goal-kicking was not as accurate as it could have been.

“I was getting a little bit filthy. I was striking the ball well but it wasn’t going through the posts,” Ferguson said.

Wayne Bennett was in a bit of a sour mood post game and left Knights captain Kurt Gidley to handle most of the talking and admitted that the performance was embarrassing.

“We shot ourselves in the foot in the first half, and then the floodgates opened,” Gidley said.